The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness, ed. Jaymee Goh

I'm pleased to announce the release of the eleventh volume of The WisCon Chronicles: Trials by Whiteness, edited by Jaymee Goh. In short fiction, poetry, personal essays, academic thinkpieces, Twitter rants, and informal Q&As, this volume begins conversations on liberation and limitations, intergenerational and international conflicts, intra-community and internal tensions.

In her introduction, Jaymee Goh writes: "Beautiful ones, we come to WisCon because through science fiction and fantasy, we know better than to simply accept the status quo. Why should we be as Caliban, whose only profit form the language of his colonizer is to curse in't? Can we not re-shape it--have we not re-shaped it for our own ends?"

The cover, by the way, features an image of the quilt created by Annie Chen, who replies in "Entralink," to a question from Jaymee:

When you first emailed me asking me in all caps “IF I WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR WISCON?” I was flattered, but I am not much of a writer. So immediately I thought of things I do like to make and responded (jokingly) “DO YOU WANT A QUILT?”
            Then as I lay in bed that night, I thought to myself, “How cool would it be to use my experiences at WisCon to inspire a quilt, have it published in the Chronicles, and then auction the finished project in the tip tree auction?” My next thought was, “Shit, now I have to make a quilt for WisCon.” So then the next day I emailed you back with, “Actually….

The volume is available in both print and e-book editions now at at www.aqueductpress.com, and in print at Room of One's Own, and will be available at a few other places soon.

Contents

            Introduction
            Jaymee Goh

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speeches
       
            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Nalo Hopkinson

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Justine Larbalestier

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Sofia Samatar

            Our Immediate Vicinity

            WisCon 40 Opening Ceremonies: WisCon is my Family Reunion
            Kat Tanaka Okopnik

            All Our Relations
            Nisi Shawl

            Who is Safe?
            Beth Plutchak

            Legacy of the Past and Foundation for the Future
            Isabel Schechter

            On WisCon, and Who Is Allowed to Feel Welcome
            K. Tempest Bradford

            Navigating WisCon 39 as a Local POC on the Ground  orA Tale of Two WisCons: WisCon 39  & WisCon 40
            LaShawn M. Wanak

            Five Scenes between WisCon
            Kat Tanaka Okopnik

            Whiteness’ Myriad Forms

            Being Jewish, Being White?
            Veronica Schanoes

            Where is the WORLD in Worldcon?A Twitter thread
            Crystal Huff

            Ansibel (odlomek)
            Tea Hvala

            Ansible (excerpt)
            Tea Hvala

            Far Away Enough to Count: Ansible Q&A
            Tea Hvala and Jaymee Goh

            Touching Whiteness

            asian flavours
            Joyce Chng

            The Long Arm of the West
            Nibedita Sen

            The Lies You Learned
            S. Qiouyi Lu

            I Used to Call Myself a Coconut
            Susheela Bhat Harkins (@SoosheBot)

            Our Defiant Selves

            “Entralink”: A Quilting Q&A
            Annie Chen and Jaymee Goh

            Science Fiction for My Failing Heart: On the Purposes of Speculation in Adverse Circumstances
            Regina Yung Lee

            Rolodex
            Mark Oshiro

           Mammie Don’ Left the Plantation  [And Took the Good Seasoning with Her] —How     WisCon Helped Me to Stop Cleaning Up White People’s Messes
            Jennifer Cross

            Advice for the Broken: Curating Weaponized Love Amongst the Multiply Marginalized
            Medieval POC

WisCon Chronicles Vol. 11: Call for materials

I'm pleased to announce that the editor of the next volume of the WisCon Chronicles is Jaymee Goh, and she's eager to receive submissions. Here's her call for materials:

Call for Submissions

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness

WisCon40 followed a seismic shift in the demographics of the convention. Following the success of the POC Safer Space, there is now a Genderqueer/Trans Lounge, and a Disability Lounge. Programming actively seeks a diversity of panelists. How have these changes come about, and what have their ramifications been?

The theme, "Trials by Whiteness," examines how what bell hooks calls the white-supremacist capitalist (cishetero)patriarchy has affected the feminism of WisCon and created difficult confrontations and conversations on the clashing perceptions of attendees. "Whiteness" refers to the position from which white supremacy operates. It has constantly moving goalposts by which everyone is measured. Whiteness does not refer only to white people; non-white peoples can also identify with this position and perspective. "Trials by whiteness," therefore, refers to all the problems people have to go through as a result of white supremacy, on various scales from microaggressions to abuse, whether institutionally or through individual behaviours.

I welcome essays and contemplations on the following:

·         the changing faces of WisCon;

·         the challenges in transmitting and sharing knowledge across generations;

·         clashes of ideology, theories, and/or practices as feminism grows; 

·         panel reports;

·         nice listicles, for example suggestions for how to ally with (and not over!) the various folks that come to WisCon!

I encourage personal essays, poems, or roundtable discussions that deal with any of the following, especially in the context of WisCon and within the SFF industry:

·         dialogs and difficult conversations about the rising discomfort of white SFF fans; 

·         intra-community conflicts within marginalized groups, which we fear to discuss because we fear whiteness turning these conflicts against us;

·         spillover of hegemonic whiteness onto other forms of oppression, such as disability, class, and gender expression;

·         productive outcomes of difficult conversations, e.g. Nalo Hopkinson's Lemonade Award;

·         what DID happen over the summer before WC39? for good or for ill, how did that affect WisCon40?

Further afield, I am a big fan of Academic Lite articles and welcome experimental and non-academic forms discussing the following topics:

·         how POC and conditionally white people are treated by people comfortably entrenched in whiteness;

·         the internalization of white/Eurocentric standards and difficulties of unlearning them in order to recognize oneself, whether as part of the system, or apart from it;

·         the challenges of being a white person confronting whiteness and demonstrating solidarity and good allyship, earning trust;

·         uncovering whiteness, the ramifications of naming it and dealing with the cognitive dissonance that it demands.

While this anthology does center the POC gaze, I am also interested in white essayists interrogating these difficult subjects from the intersections of their identities as well.

Don’t reject yourself—that’s my job!

I am particularly interested in articles that are conversations, especially between newer and older attendees, between attendees who identify differently, or in response to WisCon events. For example, attendees of color and white attendees who attended the Hamilton Sing-Along. Pitch me!

Send pitches and submissions to jhameia.goh@gmail.com with "WCC11: [title]" in the subject line. DOC / DOCX / RTF. Submissions open Aug 15, and close Oct 31. All pitched articles should be in by November 15.